9/11 Conspiracy Movie Gone Wild

August 22nd, 2006 by Larry Smith

Do you know Korey Rowe? Rowe’s a 23-year-old soldier from Oneonta, New York who returned from Afghanistan and Iraq and turned his attention to the event that sent him into battle: September 11. Now Rowe’s part of a team that’s made the 80-minute, Web-based documentary Loose Change—an online sensation that posits the notion that the federal government was responsible for the 9/11 attacks. SMITH’s Michael Slenske did a long interview with Rowe which was recently picked up by the Web site AlterNet (where I once worked and whose board I serve on). It’s quickly become one of the most-read pieces on AlterNet (we’re hoping it moves into the top slot—and brings a lot of AlterNet readers to SMITH; new AlterNet readers, click here for what SMITH is all about). As of this post, nearly 300 people have commented on the story on AlterNet, with SMITH’s own more modest discussion gathering moss as well. One AlterNet reader says:

I repeat: “Loose Change” is great work, if just for asking the questions.

There’s so obviously more to 9-11 than meets the eye, that just stirring the official take is in itself useful. Whatever the truth is, demanding more reason and sanity of the US gov’t, and as a side-effect exposing the blatant way 9-11 has been exploited for other gains, cannot be anything but healthy.

No surprise that a contrarian 9/11 story stirs the pot, especially as the fifth anniversary approaches. Rowe stands by the film’s premise, but admits some of the research methods are less than rock solid. So is it sketchy for SMITH to promote his views or are we merely offering up an outlet for an unpopular opinion?

The editors at the Times Union, a daily in Albany, have been caught up in a Rowe row themselves. The Times Union ran a Rowe/Loose Change on smack on page 1 of a recent Sunday paper—and unleashed a beast.

Read the piece and let us know what you think here.

 
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